The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-12-28
GIFTS FOR 1888.
PHYSICAL FAvoRs OF THE sCYTHE-
BEARER TO MoRTALs.
An Extra Day In 1893, with an In
creased Number of Eclipses and an
Unusually Interesting Series of Plan
etary Movements.
From the St. Louis Globe Democrat.


be exceedingly lavish OF his gifts to NOR
tails in the year Of grace 1888. II is true
the sun will journey along the same we'll
beaten track which It has been travelling
ever since its creation. The days will be
no longer than in the years that have
passed, and it would be presumptuous to
hope that they will be fairer. Daylight
will follow darkness as in the past; and
the alterations Of the seasons will take
place in the order and with the regularity
which has been the unvarying feature Of
their movement ever since Adam first be-
gan his observations OF terrestrial things.
The year 1888, as has been said, will not
have longer days than the average year.
But it will have more OF them. 1t will be
a leap year. Therefore it will have ono
more day than any OF the three years inn
mediately preceding II, or than any OF the
three years which will follow immedi-
ately after it. In another par
%ticular, 1888 will be distinguished
from ordinary years. The number Of
eclipses which IL will bring will be greater
than that brought by the average Of its
predecessors. Five will be given TO us in
the coming year, while all that we were
favored with in 1885 and 1885 was four.
What time may furnish US in the way OF
large, bright comets or l~ong-pcriod, varla-
able stars can be told better a year hence
than it can today. Perhaps the much
talked about and long expected star Of
Bethlehem, which TyclIo Brahe saw $40
years ago, may again flash into view near
the Lady i'll Her Chair before 1888 ends,
PHYSICAL BASIS OF THE YEAR.
The day is a natural limit Of time. II
marks the period between sunrise and the
succeeding sunrise, or between the suns
elimination or setting and the next ap-
pcarance OF the same phenomenon, The
year also is q natural time division. II Is
the period required for ono complete rcvo-
luton Of the earth around the sun, or Of
the apparent movement Of the sun around
the celestial sphere. The year, therefore,
like the day, IL q natural time limit, he
cause IL marks off a complete cycle OF
change. The beginning as well as the
ending OF il can be observed by everybody,
and its duration can thus be measured.
Even the earliest members Of the human
race saw that the sun In the cooler period
was In v different star group ut its setting
than the m in which they saw IL in the
hotter season. They observed that these
two star clusters were far removed from
each other, being, in fact, near the opposite
sides OF the celestial vault. They soon dis
covered, indeed, that the sun kept contin-
ually changing its place with respect to
thestars, that the movement which brought
this change about was regular, and that
after the lapse Of a certain period the sun
appeared again among the stars in which
they saw IL before, and again made the
circuit OF the armament. IL did not re-
quire many generations OF careful obserya-
ton 10 tell tho ancicnts that the period
between the successive appearances Of the
sun near a certain star was about 305 times
M long rs the period between successive
s%unriscs and sunsets.
NATURAL YEAR LIMIT.
There are three or more sorts OF years,
in the purely physical sense. There is the
solar, or natural year., which IL called in
astronomy tho tropical or ~cquinoctinl year,
the sidcral year, and the anomalistic year.
The mean lengths Of these years are rs
follows:
Days HOus. MINUTES. Seconds
Anomaiistic ~ycarr.aSj . u $50
Tho solar year is the period which
clapscs between two successive appear
anccs OF the sun nj the vcrnsl or autumnal
equinox. The sidcrial year marks the
time between two successive appearances
Of the sun at any one point in It's orbit,
although IL is usually rcckoncd from either
the winter or the summer ~solstioc. The
solar year Is the period ON which the civil
year OF the principal nations h based.
IL will not be- necessary 10 tell the
reasons for this variation between the
lengths Of the ycas here named. They
are due tosphysical causes which the
general reader would find difficult Ia
understand, and which, II presented, hn
would find very little interest in. The
natural year, therefore, consists Of nearly
u quarter al a day over 36j days. This the
ancients discovered nj nm early period.
For n time they had some difficulty in dis
posing OF these extra hours 40 that the
late In the calendar shouli continue 10
correspond with the SUM- place in the
celestial sphere. They solved the problem
eventually, and, with n surprisingly close
approach TO absolute accuracy. considering
the absence OF implements for accurate
observation.
MEANING oP LEAP YEAR.
The true, or natural year, rs has been
| hINNhUH N0NANANNN w hNNNNN NNNN NNNHH AAA
convenience, however, the civil year wa.
made 10 comprise n definite number ol
/ DAYS, adding the fractional parts together
and giving an extra day 10 each fourth
year. This was what was done by order
Of Julius Caesar, who made The iirsl
thorough reform ever instituted In the cal.
cndar. Cesar found II necessary 20 Dc
this ~ ~ a. prevent a variation between
sl. Hat, aa hnu.u no tha anna p~nattt.u
amouy the stars and the date on the calen.
dar. II the reform had not been made
Fourth Of July eventually In our latitude
would come In the winter, and Christina,
In the summer. The discrepancy, indeed,
in CaSu's time, between the astronomical
equinox and the civil equinox amounted
20 nearly thrcc months.
Cnrar not only made civil years ngre,
approximately with the astronomical year
but lac reconstructed the calendar No thaI
nj length the year was made 20 begin will
january 1 instead Of March I, ~ before
lie gave thirty -onc days to the month,
now called January, May, July, Scptcm
Der aud November, twenty-nino 10 fcbru
AIRY, except IN leap year, when II would
have thirty. and thirty days 10 April, June
August, October and December. Wher
Octayius became head Of the state. aftoI
Casar's time, and obtained the title o
Augustus, a sycophantic Senate took a daj
from February and added II 20 his montl
I Augist), 30 ~ 20 make II equal In dignity
10 Cn-rr's month (Iuly.) Eventually th'
length of The last three months Of the yea
were altered. NJ ~ 10 prevent three thirty
one-day months from following each othcI
c~onsccutiycly.
-. -. ...a.gWf. 90 .NN.aUa